pronounciation question.

[ryansc]

Hello, I have been studying english for some time. My biggest problem is pronunciation. It doesn't seem to be improving as much as I hope. I have a pronunciation question that bothers me all the time.

Everytime I say something like "Would the ..." I get tongue-tied. When a d and a th come together, it's hard to move my tongue accordingly. When I pronounce a d, the tip of my tongue touches the back of my front teeth. And when I pronounce a th, my tongue goes between my front teeth and bottom teeth. It is really difficult to move from a d to a th. I practiced like crazy but I still can't do it naturally. For native speakers, are you guys using any other easier way to pronounce these words?
For example, "Would the movie break the record?"

[Raymott]

Originally Posted by ryansc

Hello, I have been studying english for some time. My biggest problem is pronunciation. It doesn't seem to be improving as much as I hope. I have a pronunciation question that bothers me all the time.

Everytime I say something like "Would the ..." I get tongue-tied. When a d and a th come together, it's hard to move my tongue accordingly. When I pronounce a d, the tip of my tongue touches the back of my front teeth. And when I pronounce a th, my tongue goes between my front teeth and bottom teeth. It is really difficult to move from a d to a th. I practiced like crazy but I still can't do it naturally. For native speakers, are you guys using any other easier way to pronounce these words?
For example, "Would the movie break the record?"

An English /d/ is normally produced with the tongue tip at the alveolar ridge. Your attempting a dental /d/ before /th/ might not be a good idea, because, as you say, you still have to slide it between your teeth between the /d/ and /th/.
For "Would the ..." I find I make only one tongue position. The tongue tip goes between the teeth in anticipation of the /th/ while simultaneously the part of tongue behind the tip touches the alveolar ridge momentarily to make a proper alveolar /d/. This is also the case in words like "width, breadth ..."
(It might not work for you!)

[ryansc]

Thanks for ur reply. So are you saying that when you pronounce a word with a d and th together, your tip slides between the teeth and instead the upper middle part of your tongue touchs the alveolar ridge?

[Raymott]

Originally Posted by ryansc

Thanks for ur reply. So are you saying that when you pronounce a word with a d and th together, your tip slides between the teeth and instead the upper middle part of your tongue touchs the alveolar ridge?

Yes, when talking at normal speed or faster.